Monday, 14 December 2009

At this time of year in this neck of the woods, it is tradition to shlep to the florists, buy a wreath for oodles of mula, and then hang it on your front door. Well bloggerinos, not this time! No more Miss Nice Guy! This year, I have made my own!

It's not as fantastic as you might expect....yet. I plan to add more and more embellishments as the years go on, but for my first year in my first home, this'll do!

The big one was made this year, but the little slinky one was made up in Liverpool last year.

Sunday, 13 December 2009

As each day passes, and more Christmas cards plop through my letter box, I remember more and more people who need a card sending to them. And with that, I happily turn to my stash of handmade cards and secretly smile to myself on the inside that they are so sparkly and cheery and made with love. Awwww!

So without further ado, here are a few photo's of them and them in the making. Even the Fiance was put to work on operation "Cracking Cards!".

So quick, get checking your letterboxes, one of my creations could be on its way!

Saturday, 5 December 2009

On a recent trip to heaven, ahem, I mean Hobbycraft, to buy Christmas card supplies, I was given this brilliant photo opportunity. Issobelle was so eager to get the Santa hat on that she didn't even take if off the stand. If that doesn't show commitment to the festive season, I don't know what does!

Wednesday, 2 December 2009

Whilst having elevensies (is this not the cutest thing that older people say? "Elevensies"- for those not in the know, it is the art of having a little rest around eleven, usually accompanied by refreshments of some kind), anyway, whilst having elevensies with Mindy (the picture was too brilliant not to post), I heard a rather ghastly clatter from the porch!

Grabbing my mobile and pre-dialling 999 in case I was about to meet some sort of madcap attacker (I'm easily frightened as the Fiance will vouch for when he makes me jump!), I headed nervously to the front door to investigate the commotion.

There on my mat, alongside the dull bills and junk mail, was a gloriously big brown package with familiar neat writing. Dashing back to the lounge, and to Mindy who wasn't in the least bit alarmed by all the drama, I tore open the package and discovered the most fantastic cushion! My friend Yin Yin Lau is training to be an architect and is very chic and cosmopolitan. To those that don't know her, they would suspect she lives for expensive shoes, cocktails and her career. But oh no chummy! She has a secret. She is a closet knitter!!

She knits baby blankets, cute cardigans, little hearts which I would absolutely love (hint hint Yinners) and as I have pleasantly found, fabulous cushions! The wool she uses is very carefully chosen from everywhere from John Lewis, backstreet Liverpool shops and even New York! Wowza! I know so much time and effort will have gone into her creation and a lot of care has been taken. She chose my favourite colour and I think the little knitted house was because I have just moved into my first house.

I now feel compelled to send her an equally (it'll be tough) fantasmic crafted item and hope that she will send me something back and we can make a bit of a tradition of this craft swapping!

So YinYin, if you are reading, this is your first official review and I shall happily give you 10/10 for style and 10/10 for creativity! Thank you so much!

About a week ago, on a cold, dark, rainy Tuesday night, I popped in to Auntie Judith's to drop something off, it was very precious cargo (Issobelle) and then dashed to the door to get to an appointment.

So off I shlepped to the front door, about to face the elements when suuddeeennnnllyy, Judith said "Oh by the way, I've got something for you". Ooooooh Juuuditthh, what is this something you speak of? It isn't Christmas yet.

Well my little bloggerinos (this is what I shall call you Dear Reader), it turned out to be a big box of VINTAGE RIBBON!!! I simply had to put that in capitals to truly display my joy!! My Great Auntie Edna, who sadly died a few years back, used to help my Mum with her craft fairs (I come from a very very crafty family), and had saved a lot of the ribbon they used. Thankfully Auntie Judith had also kept it and thought I might want it. Of course I did!!

Naturally, this little beauty was too good to keep to myself so here I am, sharing it with you.

Tuesday, 1 December 2009

Happy 1st of December! You know the Christmas song that goes, "Tis the most wonderful tiiiime, of the year!", well no truer a sentence has ever been uttered if you ask me!

My cards are made, written and by the door ready to be handed out, my tree is dressed, my lights are strung, my festive nibbles are in the cupboard ready for my drinks and nibbles do...oh yes, I am organised! And not to mention a little smug! hehe

Anyway, these cheeky chocolate chappies are on my tree and ready to be pilfered by little hands (mainly Issobelle's- she's had her eye on those two), so I thought I would snap them before they are gobbled up.

So its glad tidings from me and even more glad tidings from the little chocolate santas.

Sunday, 29 November 2009

On a recent visit to my friend's home I was drawn, like a magpie is to shiny things, to her fireplace. Pride of place was a set of lovely ye oldey looking blocks, spelling out the word "Love" and I thought they were too fantastic to not snap!

Wednesday, 25 November 2009

With all this grey weather we are having at the moment, I thought we should have a bright and funky project to cheer us all up before the Christmas Panic sets in.

On a mundane outing to the shopping centre with Issobelle, to pick curtains for my recently decorated bedroom (hurrah), we stumbled across a photograph booth. "How very ordinary", I hear you cry! "They're everywhere nowadays", someone shouts from the back! Well no, no, no dear readers, this was the old kind of photo machine. That glorious kind where you could do four different poses and they come out in a strip, rather than a block. Oooooo I was excited! So, back to what happened!

Issobelle was drawn to the machine almost as much as I was and with £3 and a few minutes we had captured our exciting little discovery and were very pleased with the pocket sized results. We managed 3 out of 4 good pictures- not bad when you pop a four year old into the equation- and I banked them safely in my purse until I thought of something fun to do with them. That's were this project comes in..........

The first colourful step was to select a canvas and paint it. I selected a 5x7 acid free canvass board and used paint from the little 97p tester pots I mentioned in an earlier post. I selected "Purple Victoria". Mmmmm sumptuous! I left my vivacious victoria canvass to dry and set to work on the important task of selecting buttons to frame it.

I decided to go for all the bright but not garish (in my opinion) ones as I thought they would compliment my purpley colours.

Using regular kiddie friendly pva glue, I squidged the buttons down, making sure to push them over the edge (they were very stressed and couldn't hack it hahaha) slightly to disguise the straight edge of the canvass. I them arranged our magic photo booth pictures and using my very special glitter pen, doodled all round the pictures and wrote a little caption. Ahhh!

Last but not least was was to adhere a sunshine yellow ribbon (once again calling on my old trusty pva) to enable my to hang my vibrant piece of art.

I hope this inspires you to insert a little sunshine into your crafts and of course, keep your eyes peeled for fantastic photo booths!

Tuesday, 24 November 2009

As you may recall from my "A Sweet Treat" post a while back, I have ordered these fabulous fymo charms from a very clever lady off Etsy. I decided to make some little friends for my bracelets and so these cutsie earrings came about. I have only shown three varieties here but I have also cooked up (ho ho) oreo, lollipop and yellow cupcake earring too!

I shall be selling these at my next craft fair and giving them to friends. I'll perhaps pop a few more photographs up of the rest of them at a later date.

Sunday, 22 November 2009

A very, very quick post to apologise for my absence lately. I have been Miss Busy Bee and haven't had a chance to come on and update but I shall be posting lots and lots of exciting projects and happy list additions so do check back. My photograph is fairly irrelevant- I took it when someone bought cakes into the office and thought they looked pretty (excuse me whilst I add pastel coloured cakes to my happy list)- but are a visual delight to bribe you with, hehe!

Also, being as I simply cannot wait til December, I will be posting a variety of Christmas projects! Hurrah Huzzah!!

Wednesday, 11 November 2009

Since I have been making all sorts of crafty delights lately, and telling you my secrets on how to make them (!), I decided that today we would have a rest from creating and I would elaborate on my micro happy list.

As you may know from previous posts, a Micro Happy List is a list of all the little things in life that make you happy. So not massive things like going on holiday or winning the lottery, but things like when you find a five pound note on the floor or when you get a glitzy card in the post.

A big hit on my happy list at the moment is winter wear! I love love love it when you see everyone in their new coats with colourful hats and scarves and and twinkly gloves. Mmmm cosy!

A more tangible happy list contender is this amazing donut I saw in the bakers the other day. Worrying, I'm not actually a big donut fan but I felt drawn by the sprinkles and it called out to me, "Look at my jazzy colours, don't I look vibrant? Wouldn't I look glorious in your kitchen?!". Well, I thought, it would look brilliant in my kitchen and so with a flash of cash (woop a poem!), it was in my bag and the fiance was a happy man on his return from work!

Last but not least on today's' Micro Happy List is my new spangly lip gloss- how terribly girlie of me I know. I was bit of a lip technician a while back and mixed a Boots No7 Jelly Bean (that's the colour it was called, not what it was- I don't just rub jelly beans on my lips like a fruitloop!) and MAC Dazzledust Lipglass in SugarRimmed and viola!! Sparkle-tastic-bombastic!!

None of todays list items are unusual or unobtainable and yet they all bring a smile to my (glittery!) face. :)

Saturday, 7 November 2009

This week has been spent with one of my best pals up North and so my craft box has been severely neglected and crying out for some attention. Something beady I hear you cry? No! Something glittery someone shouts from the back? No! Something with buttons you say? No, no and thrice no!

On my rummage, I stumbled across a lonely block of Fymo clay. For those not in the know, fymo is like a really colourful clay that you can buy in blocks for about £2 from most big craft stores, mine is from Hobbycraft, and comes in looooaads of colours and some even have glitter infused into them! Wowza! I got playing and made a few big circular beads (I would have written about them but I expect you are a bit beaded out at the mo) and then my hands took over and I became one with the fymo and somehow created this rosey little numbers!! I was quite pleased with myself!

To make these little nicknacks, I fear they have no purpose other than that of an ornamental one, please note the instructions below.

Now, as I always say, these are only my instructions, puurrlleeaassee don't feel you must follow these to the letter- let your creativeness take you! :)

1. Tear off a teeny tiny piece of fymo (about the size of a petit pois) and warm up between your finger and thumb until its nice and subtle. Mmm I like the word "subtle", that's another for my happy list.

2. Squish (very technical word there) the little ball into a flatter longer circle, kind of like the shape of your thumb print and roll it to make a little curl. This little curl will make the first part of your rose bud.

3. Continue the process of ripping little bits off, rolling and squishing but each time, very gently wrap the little bits round the first curl, then the second layer, then the third etc etc. Each time you create a layer, make the little bit of fymo slightly larger.

4. You will now have a pretty rose bud and all that it will need are the finishing touches. VERY gently curl the edges of the wrapped sections outwards, to create the look of a flourishing flower.

5. Poke a cocktail stick up into the bottom of the rosebud and this will make the stem. I plan on painting my cocktail sticks green for a more "stemmy" look and perhaps even add some sort of petal. Remove the cocktail stick but ensure the hole for it remains open.

6. Once you are satisfied with your bud, place it gently on an oven tray and put it in the oven for 30 minutes on 110 degrees C. This will bake and harden it.

7. Once it is baked, reinsert the stem and voila! You're done!

You can add as many or little of layers as you like to make bigger or smaller flowers and really experiment with this project. It's great if you're feeling a little whimsical and just have a spare 10 minutes on your hands.

Monday, 2 November 2009

You may remember from The Puuuurrrfect Photograph a few days ago, that one of my followers challenged me to create a Mindycat friendly crafty item. Well dear follower, your wish was my command.

Out came paint, paint brushes, the craft knife, card board boxes and masking tape. The beauty of moving house is you suddenly find yourself with a vast array of card board boxes- much to Issobelle's delight!

I won't be giving step by step instructions on this project as I'm not sure you will all be rushing to make your kitty a house but I will give one top tippy.

I recently went to Hobbycraft (you know my love of Hobbycraft) and was looking at the paints and I can't tell you how surprised I was to see the cost of a single tube of acrylic or water colour paint. I only wanted general any-old paint but the kiddie range was rather limited. I put down the pricey paint and left empty handed. Ok ok, we all know I never leave there empty handed but I left without the paint at least.

Later that day I had to go to B&Q for wall paint. Well bloggerrinos, as I was juggling my decision of should I choose "River Mist" or "Frosted Blue" for the guest room, my eye was drawn to the little tester pots you can buy to try a bit on your wall if you aren't ready to commit to "River Mist" etc. These little pots come in almost every colour imaginable and, wait for it, are only 98p! Wowza! I left B&Q with "Frosted Blue" and a collection of sample pots and a smug feeling about my bargain.

If you would like info on how the cat mansion was constructed, do comment below. Mindy was pretty pleased and is currently at B&Q, choosing colours for her guest room. Tehe.

Sunday, 1 November 2009

On a recent rummage through my box of crafty joys, I stumbled across this birthday card I had made for Issobelle aaaaaaaaaaaggggggggggggggggggggggeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssss ago! I knew I had made her one!

Naturally I have given her the somewhat belated card now, but I wanted to share it with you anyway.

It was fairly simple to make, I think 'concoct' would be a better word! It is an amalgamation (big word there folks) of all sorts of crafty bits. When I set out to make cards, I never have a clear plan. My method it to pick a few bits and bobs in colours that compliment each other and get sticking!

At this time of year, in my neck of the woods, it's not quite cold enough to have the fire on but I would like to have a Autumnul feel to the living room. I like to think that my glittery pine cones simulate a firey effect and also add a touch of pizzazz (yes, I did just say "pizzazz") to an otherwise plain place.

The little postcard above was from Stowe Craft fair, and although you can't see in this shot, it has a gorgeous crinkle cut round the edge and and almost 'white wash' effect to it. For 50p, it would have been a crime not to snap it up!

Monday, 26 October 2009

Firstly, brace yourself. We have a lot of ground to cover and this is set to be a long blogerroo article. So much to tell, so little time!

Secondly, as my late Mother would say, "Let's get this show on the road!".

This Saturday, our craft hunt took us (myself, the fiance, the Issobelle and the Amy) to Stowe Christmas Craft fair. As a keen believer in the magic of Christmas, and of course my luurrvvee of crafts, this kind of event is right up my alley!

As you have probably already guessed, this article will be a combination of the stalls I enjoyed the most, the bits and bobs I bought and a couple of extras to add a sprinkle of glitter.

Pictured above are the business cards of the vendors that I thought had the best stands. My measure of "best" is whether it is appealing to the eye (although they do say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder), the types of products they sold, or the price- a key element for a craft addict myself! All these gorgeous knick-knacks soon add up! Eek! I think if you click on the image above, it will magnify and you might be able to read the business cards. If it doesn't work, I apologise, after many tries at this shot, this was the best. Should you want any further information regarding them, pop a comment at the bottom and I'll happily give you any details :). Golly gosh, that all sounded rather professional!!

As you can see above and below, here are a few of stalls that I thought were fantabbydosey!

The Rebel Rocks stall was a fantastic array of individually designed rings, all at only £35 (NB this might have been a special offer for the day, so don't quote me on it!) and all exquisite. All the rings had a sort of chunkyjewelness to them that I enjoy in a ring (they balance out my chunky fingers haha) and theyoozed quality. If I hadn't had spent all my money, I would have bought the stall up! Comment below if you would like the website details etc because I definitely think these would be well worth considering for gifts or even to reward yourself for a hard days work reading my blog! Woop!

Flowerstalk was another fantastic stall that had a fabulous range of table centre pieces and floral displays. To be frank (ahh that made me think of a super Frank I used to work with. I'm going to pop him on my Micro Happy list because he made me smile everyday, without fail. If you're reading Frank- I miss your Dad jokes and hideous 'music'), so back to the matter at hand, to be frank, I'm not actually a 'flower person', but these were brilliant. All the displays/centre pieces were wonderfully contemporary with glitter and candles and I would be happy to invite these to a dinner party! The chap on the stand was super as well- very happy to let me take pictures so that gets a thumbs up in my book! Thankyou Mr Flowerstalk Man! Again, if you would like details, comment below.

Last but absolutely not least, the stall I spent a small fortune at, was Bloomin'fab. The stall was full of cool plaques and little hangy jobbies (another of my official terms there) and there were quite a few that could be personalised. I have had a little look at the Blooin'fab website and it seems very userfriendly (ideal for people like me- this blog is about as technical as I get). Comment for details.

Okie cokie, on to the fun bit- the treasure I took home! Hurrah Huzzah!

I shall resist commenting on all the pictures, I'll let you gorge on the beauties and feel smug that they are now nestled in my little home, all happy and merry-tehehe :) .

I know I said I wouldn't, but I HAD to! I'm commenting! This bird ornament was from the At Home... stall. At Home... is a shop in Buckingham and their stall was fab too. This bird is metal and very heavy, hence the leather stringy bit- cotton would just snap, and was too gorgeous not to be bought. I think lilac birdie is meant to be a christmas tree decoration but he has already flown into my lounge and I suspect will be staying there. Tweet tweet.

All in all, I would say Stowe Christmas Craft Fair was another fab day. The stalls were super, the setting was spectacular, and as this pictures suggest, Issobelle would rate it 10 out of 10 too! I think the clenched wrists cake picture says "Oooooohh yeeesssss I luuurrrvvee cake", and she was immensely pleased with her face paint, proudly telling me her makeup looked much better than mine! Little gem!

Saturday, 24 October 2009

Just as the Beads, Buttons and a Sprinkle of Glitter title would suggest, buttons are one of my joys. Never mind making me micro happy, they make me massive happy! So, dear reader, imagine my super duper excitement when I found a little box of buttons my marvellous Grandma gave me a few years back. I had lost them, and then my some mystical buttony force, I found them in my junk room and immediately started thinking about what I could make with my little gems.

After much deliberation, I decided to make this hanging button heart to add a touch of button love to my new home.

In my unprofessional opinion, its the little touches that do it- The large touches make a house, but the little touches make a home :) . By filling my home with handmade goodies, it's like filling my home with care, love and time taken to create. Mmmmm handmadeness.

These are the steps I took to make my hanging button heart, but of course, you can adapt and alter as you please.

1. Like a magpie, search for all the colours you like and group together approximately 20-25 buttons of a similar size. This is the step you can personalise the most- for bigger or smaller hearts use more or less buttons, and for a quirky feel you could try different sized or even different shaped buttons.

2. Cut a length of wire (I used beading wire with a 34 gauge, but that was just because I had it to hand. Next time I will try a slightly more sturdy wire as this was a little too flimsy for my liking) about 30cm long. This will not be the circumference of your heart but it's better to have a little extra and then you can trim the ends.

3. Thread on your first button to the bottom of the wire, leaving a 5-8cm 'tail', as you will use this to secure the strand at the end of your project.

4. Thread the wire through one hole of the first button, threading from behind, bring it through, thread it back out from in front, through the adjacent hole. Did that make any sense? It did to me but reading it back it sounds more tricky than it is. Hmmmm, comment if this causes you any real problems and I'll try and explain it better (chance is a fine thing!).

4. Do this threading technique with all your buttons.

5. When you have threaded all your buttons, twizzle the ends of the wire together, quite tightly, so that you have a wirey buttony circle, and trim off any excess.

6. Shape the wire circle into a heart (or any shape you fancy) and attach ribbon, wire or string for hanging. I used wire again, purely because it was to hand, and attached it to the top of the heart by wrapping the wire round the buttony wire a couple of times.

Friday, 23 October 2009

As avid followers will remember from my conker post way back when, I'm a keen believer in bringing nature into the home to create a eco friendly yet attractive focal point for a room. Last month I had my blue vase conker display and this was all the rage in the land of the porch, but just like the song that goes "for every season turn, turn, turn", my conkers turned and grew fur. This was when I knew it was time to say "Buhbye Cool Conkers, Hello Pretty Pine cones!".

On a recent visit to Daddy-GlitterStitch, myself, Amy and Issobelle collected 2 huuuuuge bags of pine cones, took them home and set to work!

To give your pine cones a sparkly outfit, complete the following instructions (as usual, this is a simple project and you can do it a variety of ways, this is just the way I tackled it):

1. Make a mixture of one part water, one part pva glue and one part gold paint (I use the kiddie friendly kind- my cream carpets prefer it).

2. Hold naked pine cone ready for his new outfit but first- very important- shake it and blow it because Amy nearly died of fright when Mr Spider crawled out and attacked her. Loud screaming ensued and this was not conducive to my little glue-glitter-shake system!

3. With a toothbrush or a washing up brush jobby, roughly coat the cone in the glue mixture.

4. Pass the gluey pine cone to a consenting chum and sprinkle generously with glitter. We opted for gold for a rich feeling but this is obviously a matter of personal choice.

Today was one of those special days that you just know that in 5 years time, you will look back and think "That was a nice moment" and smile to yourself at the sparkly little memory- I call these 'Mental Gems'. A memory that you cherish, that brings a smile to your face and a warm fuzzy to your heart. Call me smooshy but there we are- its another one (along with my love for fridge fronts), that I tend to keep on the down loooow.

Anyway, today all three Aunties, Judith, Jackie and Rosey-Posey-Timble-Tosey, came round for tea and cakes and I like to think I stepped up to the mark. Out came the vintage plates that were left to me by my beautiful Mother (Diana Jane) and on went the oven for a variety of home baked goodies. Ok, you caught me, that's not 100% true. I did dig out my vintage china from my Mummy, but I might not have actually made the mini apple pies and sponge cakes. It is possible that the helpful staff at Morrisons did that part. Tehe.

After tea and cakes on delightful plates (nearly poetry there), a little auntie shaped birdie told me that I have a secret blog follower. I have known my secret blog follower all her life and used to play with her and her big sister in the summer house in their garden and at my cousin's house. Well please secret follower, will you become a public follower (click "follow" option at side of page and follow instructions to create a google account- tres tres simple chum) and let yourself be known! As a little thank you to you for following, please enjoy this picture :)

A bit of a waffly bloggeroo today but I wanted to share my vintagey things with you (they make me micro happy) and also wanted to say "Thank you Kindly Following Chums" to everyone who takes the time to read!

Louise Pentland

Louise Pentland

hi

Oh Hai!
Welcome to the oldest blog online. Not really but it feels like!
Sprinkle of Glitter was started by me, Louise Pentland, in 2009 as a place to document my love of life, review products and experiences and discuss the highs and lows of motherhood.
Mostly now you'll find me over on my YouTube Channels (Sprinkle of Glitter and Sprinkle of Chatter) or Twitter and Insta (@LouisePentland) but this blog will always be my first love.
louise@gleamfutures.com or louise.pentland@hotmail.co.uk.